Pepsin treatment of whey proteins under high pressure produces hypoallergenic hydrolysates

- Pepsin under high pressure produces a hypoallergenic hydrolysate of whey proteins.
- Fifty percent of the peptides have between 10 and 3 kDa and contain IgE-binding epitopes.
- Challenge with the hydrolysate does not induce anaphylaxis.
- Oral administration of the hydrolysate does not generate specific IgE, IgG1 or IgA.
- The hydrolysate retains sufficient immunogenicity to stimulate Th2 responses.

BALB/c mice were used to assess the ability of a whey protein hydrolysate obtained by pepsin treatment under high pressure (400 MPa, 37 °C, 30 min, HWP), to induce anaphylaxis, antibody production and cytokine responses in comparison with the whey protein isolate (WP) from which it is derived. HWP did not contain intact allergens and 50% of its peptides ranged between 10 and 3 kDa. Challenge with HWP did not induce clinical signs, body temperature changes or release of mast cell proteinase-1 in mice sensitized to WP. Immunization of mice with HWP did not produce WP-specific antibodies or allergic reactions upon HWP or WP challenge and thus, it can be considered hypoallergenic. However, HWP stimulated Th2 responses in splenocytes from sensitized mice. These characteristics make HWP a good candidate to be used in the management of milk allergy in diagnosed patients or to induce tolerance to whey proteins.Industrial relevanceHydrolysis with pepsin under high pressure produces in minutes a whey protein hydrolysate that complies with the health claims of the European guidelines on infant and follow-on formulas related to the reduction of risk to allergy to milk proteins. This process constitutes an alternative to the exhaustive enzymatic hydrolysis treatments used in the processing of hypoallergenic formulas that release short peptides and free amino acids to adversely affect organoleptic properties and technological value.